Man Accused Of Shooting, Stabbing Girlfriend To Death In St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – A 29-year-old St. Paul man is facing charges after his girlfriend was shot and stabbed to death in an apartment early Sunday morning.

Andre Antwan Duprey was charged with second-degree murder with intent in connection with the incident, which happened at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

According to the charges, St. Paul police responded to 1986 Montreal Avenue on a report of a person with a gun who was inside an apartment at 956 St. Paul Avenue. When officers got to the apartment, they found a handgun on a living room table and immediately secured it. They also located a man, later identified as Duprey, holding a knife in the bathroom entryway.

Officers commanded him to drop the knife, and he refused. He was chanting "demon, demon." Officers used an electronic incapacitation device, baton strikes and about three 40-millimeter beanbag rounds to subdue Duprey and get him to drop the knife. He was eventually taken into custody.

The complaint states officers found the woman in the bedroom, face down on the floor, with a large wound to her head. They saw blood, pieces of skull and brain matter in the bedroom as well as a double barrel shotgun on the bed, with blood on the barrel. The woman was pronounced dead.

She was identified Monday as 28-year-old Phanny Phay of St. Paul.

The complaint states officers spoke with Duprey's aunt, who said she was staying with him at the apartment and woke up to commotion. She opened the door to the bedroom and saw Duprey holding a shotgun to his girlfriend's head. She grabbed her daughter, ran out of the apartment and called for help.

She told police Phay lived with Duprey at the apartment and woke up at about 2 a.m. to the commotion. He was saying "demon, demon" while holding a shotgun to Phay's face. She was sitting on the bed crying.

The complaint states Duprey told police, "You know it's crazy." He said he was just having some fun with family members and said he didn't remember what happened. He admitted that Phay was at the apartment, but denied they got into an argument and admitted to having two guns for self-defense. Authorities asked him what happened when he was talking with Phay. He covered his face, shook his head and said, "My girlfriend's not okay is she, huh?"

The investigator asked Duprey if something happened, and he said "No." The complaint states the investigator asked him what he remembered, and Duprey exercised his right to plead the fifth.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Phay. She suffered severe head trauma from two shotgun wounds to her right posterior head and lateral neck. They couldn't identify her facially. She had suffered 45 sharp force injuries throughout her body. Her death was ruled a homicide.

If convicted, Duprey faces up to 40 years in prison.